


i'll live now 'cause the bad die last

by enbyofdionysus



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Christmas, Fluff, Hanukkah, M/M, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-21 02:06:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17034417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enbyofdionysus/pseuds/enbyofdionysus
Summary: sticks-and-mints asked: How about Percy going home to Sally for the holidays and Jason pretends to have to stay home with his family, but conspires with Sally to show up and surprise Percy for the holidays. (Could be for Christmas or Hanukkah, it doesn't matter)





	i'll live now 'cause the bad die last

It wasn’t that Jason hated his family (okay, that was a bit of a lie), but with Thalia stationed in Germany the entire house had turned into a kind of prison. His parents were like staunch wooden puppets: forgoing a Christmas tree for a fake one already decorated with red and green baubles, forgoing baking Christmas cookies for store bought processed sugar globs, and worst of all staying in their offices on their phones.

All.

The.

Time.

It was like celebrating Christmas inside of a law firm.

At least with Thalia, they’d created their own traditions. But now that she was gone Jason had become painfully aware of just how much he was like the fiancé at the end of the Hallmark film that gets dumped because his life is too boring for the heroine.

Except Jason didn’t actually have anyone to dump him. He was reminded of this fact while scrolling through his phone on the couch where pictures of his best friend and long-time crush, Percy Jackson, were making him die inside.

Percy had sent him a photo on messenger of his mom’s Upper East Side apartment decked from floor to ceiling in DIY decorations. Paper snowflakes hung from the ceiling and on the kitchen counter was a white vase filled with blue, white, and gold glittery stars on silver sticks. In the window Jason could just make out the gold menorah in the shape of a dinosaur Percy had embarrassingly admitted to spending too much money on.

 _Wish you were here,_  Percy texted.  _It’s gonna be so lit!_

Jason groaned at the pun.

And then let out a tiny, dying sound.

Because Percy sent him another picture directly after that. It was awful. Absolutely terrible. It was a selfie. With his stupid face looking all stupidly happy with his stupidly bright green eyes and his stupidly soft looking curls and his stupidly gorgeous brown skin all pressed up against his cat. Who looked hilariously enraged to have been lifted from the ground for the purpose of a mortal’s photo.

 _Even Triton misses you_ , Percy said.

 _He looks like he wants me dead_ , Jason texted back.

 _That’s just his face_ , Percy said.  _Family resemblance._

Jason smiled into the cushion of the couch. And then the smile slipped from his face.  _I wish I could be there. It feels more like the mourning of Jesus’ death instead of his birth._

_Sorry, bro. Only a couple more days of suffering, right? Or are you staying there through New Years?_

_New Years_ , Jason answered.

_Gross._

Jason sighed into the couch. For a moment he thought he heard the creak of the staircase, but when he glanced up it was just his mom’s office door closing. They were working on an important closing deal with a client, Jason knew, but still, he wished they’d… Well, he didn’t know what he wished they’d do. On the off chance that Jason actually got to have one-on-one time with his parents he was reminded of just how different they were. For instance: Jove Grace had voted for Donald Trump and Jason had a soul.

His phone vibrating against his hand made him glance down again.

 _Well_ , Percy had said,  _if you need some time away or whatever there’s always a place for you here._

Jason’s cheeks warmed.

And then, well. An idea popped into his head.

**

To be fair, Sally, Percy’s mom, had been the mastermind behind most of it. It had been Jason’s idea to take a flight to New York the day after Christmas, but it had been Sally who helped him figure out how to actually get there and it was her that picked him up from the airport.

“He has no idea?” Jason asked, loading his bag into the backseat of the Prius.

Sally shook her head with a smile. “Completely in the dark. He thinks I went out to get frosting for the cookies.”

Jason’s heart stammered. “You guys are making cookies?”

“No,” Sally said, pulling him into a welcoming hug. She smelled like clean laundry and spices. “ _We’re_  making cookies. As soon as we get home.”

New York City in winter had to be one of Jason’s favorite things. Despite having lived there for four years during his undergrad, he still couldn’t get enough of the multitudes of people bundled up in coats; of the glow of the headlights of the cabs and the Christmas lights in contrast to the drabby clouds; the snow, when there was snow, on the trees lining the sidewalks and in Central Park. It was all its own brand of fierce and confident beauty and Jason couldn’t get enough of it.

It was the reason he’d returned there for graduate school instead of going back to California where his dad wanted him to go. Well, that and also Percy. They’d met during Jason’s Junior year of college when Percy, one of Hazel’s friends, had gone on a drunken rant about the importance of social activist design. His passion and the way he argued had made Jason want to hang out with him again, to hear more, and three years later Jason still wanted to hear more.

He just also kind of wanted to kiss him when he was done talking.

“It’s just up here,” Sally said once they’d parked (a fucking miracle to be completely honest) and made their way up a set of stone steps. She unlocked the main door and then led Jason up another set of stairs, this one narrower and a lot higher than he was used to, but still he shuddered pleasantly when Sally opened the door to the apartment and a wave of warm air hit his chilled face.

Jason had been in Percy’s apartment before, but it was still a nice thing to see: a small living room with a comfortable looking couch, a kitchen directly behind it, and a hallway leading to the rest of the apartment off to the far left. Cinnamon-scented candles were burning on the tiny coffee table by the couch and Jason carefully moved around them to place his bag down.

“Hey,” came Percy’s voice from around the corner. Jason froze. “Did you find the frosting?”

Sally shared a glance with Jason. “I did.”

“Awesome! I already pre-heated the oven and everything, so we can–  _Holy shit!_ ” Percy had finally come around the corner, dressed in a pair of tattered sweatpants and his hair like a frizzy cloud. He laughed out loud at the sight of Jason, hand still on his chest from the scare. Jason’s heart tripped over itself. “When did– Oh my god. You  _asshole_.”

“Language,” Sally lightly chided.

“Sorry,” Percy said, then pulled Jason into a hug. “You asshole,” he said again, but quietly into Jason’s shoulder where his mom wouldn’t hear.

Jason clapped his back and tried not to enjoy breathing him in too much. When they separated, Percy was grinning. “When did you get here?”

Jason looked down at his jacket.

“Right, sorry, stupid question. How long are you here for? Are you staying with us? Oh my god, you can totally bunk with me.”

“Percy,” Sally said again, but this time with amusement. “Let him breathe a little.”

“Sorry,” Percy said, but he wasn’t.

Jason wasn’t either. He smiled, feeling happy for the first time in days. “I’m here ‘til New Years. If that’s okay.”

“If that’s okay!”

Jason laughed.

Percy beamed and clapped his upper arms like he couldn’t believe he was there. “Get ready for some serious Hanukkah-ness, my dude. You’ll gain ten pounds before you leave.”

“I’ll try not to enjoy it too much,” Jason said.

Except he did. God, he did.

All three of them baking cookies together – Paul would be getting in later that afternoon – was sickeningly fun and if Jason let himself hope a little bit – a dangerous thing to do – he might just say that Percy was flirting with him a little bit. But maybe Jason was reading too much into it.

Except he wasn’t.

Because at the end of the night, when they were full on wine and challah and some really fucking good chicken cutlets, when Jason had settled on the floor of Percy’s bedroom on an air mattress and the two of them were laying down to sleep, Percy sat up and turned over to look at him.

“Hey,” he said.

Jason met his eyes in the dark.

“I’m really happy you’re here,” Percy said.

Jason smiled. “Thanks. I’m happy I’m here too.”

“How was the death of Jesus?”

“Awful.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’m here now, so.”

Percy smiled one of his wide smiles. And then he sucked his lower lip into his mouth and gnawed on it once, twice. “Hey,” he said.

“Yeah?”

He released his lip from his teeth and licked it. Swallowed. “Nothing,” he said.

“Okay,” said Jason.

Percy lay back down and after a couple of minutes of silence Jason thought it safe to close his eyes.

But then Percy violently turned back over in his bed and Jason blinked up at him again. “Can I ask you something?” he said.

“Sure,” Jason answered.

Percy stared at him. Then flopped back down to the mattress. “Nevermind.”

“Are you sure?”

“No.”

Jason smiled and sat up, resting his head on his hand. “You better ask now ‘cause I’ll be pissed if you wake me up in the middle of the night to ask if rocks have feelings.”

Percy, to his surprise, didn’t laugh. He stared up at the ceiling for a couple of minutes before finally meeting Jason’s eyes. Jason waited for him to say something, but instead Percy shifted his body so that his arm draped from the bed and for a brief moment Jason didn’t know what was happening.

But then Jason’s fingers were touching Percy’s fingers and it was like the earth had fallen out from under him and then caught him again. His breath paused in his throat. “Oh,” he said.

Percy was staring at their hands. “Is this okay?”

Jason nodded. He felt the dips in Percy’s knuckles, the lines of his palm. He shuddered a breath and Percy matched it. Finally, they drew their hands away, hesitant, but satisfied. Percy buried himself in his blanket before smiling down at him.

Jason smiled back.

**Author's Note:**

> A note on Jove voting for Trump -- this was for the sake of making Jason's family more like the conservative male protagonist in Hallmark films. As the god of justice, Zeus would sooner let Trump fall into a lake of fire. We all know this. My proud bisexual poly man would never.


End file.
